A snowboard binding is used in order to bind the snowboard rider's boot to the snowboard. In some snowboard bindings, to hold the rider's boot to the snowboard binding, an ankle cap assembly and a toe cap assembly are provided. The ankle cap assembly and the toe cap assembly each include two straps that are releasably connected to one another by a ratchet mechanism fixed to one of the straps. The ratchet mechanism engages with the other strap, called a ladder strap, which includes ladder-type teeth thereon that function with the ratchet mechanism to permit adjustment of the connection pressure of the respective ankle cap assembly and the toe cap assembly by actuating the ratchet mechanism back and forth.
Strapping into current binding technology can be difficult. The user is required to step through and around the straps, or use their hands to move aside the straps just to get a boot into the base or frame of the binding. Depending on the user's snowboarding skill level, this part of the process could force a beginner to have to sit down on a bench or directly on the snow in order to maneuver their boot into the binding. Once the boot is positioned in the binding, the user then has to use both hands to feed the ladder strap through the ratchet mechanism, which could be full of snow and/or ice, and then the user actuates the ratchet mechanism to tighten the straps with hopes of achieving correct tightness. If the straps are too loose, the user's boot slides around inside of the binding frame; if the straps are too tight, circulation to the user's feet can be cut off. These problems are increased by the fact that a user is required to disconnect one boot from a binding each time when riding a chairlift to the top of the mountain (or disconnecting both boots when riding a gondola) so that the user must reconnect their boot to the binding each time after exiting the chairlift.